Beyond the Veil
by ghilliekitten
Summary: After Sirius goes beyond the veil, he enters a completely different world...and he meets some people he does not expect.
1. Beyond the Veil

Disclaimer : any recognizable characters come from the Harry Potter books and are the property of JRK. Any characters you don't recognize are mine. If this story has any similarity with anyone else's it's entirely an accident, so let me know, and I'll fix it the best I can.

Dedication: this chapter … okay scratch that, this whole story is dedicated with much thanks, to my wonderful beta, Zippy-Wings. You're the greatest!

Everything seemed to be in slow motion – somehow it was more like watching himself dueling with his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, and dodging her curses than actually dueling until a flash of green light actually hit him. He saw the look of triumph on Bellatrix's face and heard her triumphant shout. Something about that moment jarred back into a sense of himself, and he regained a proper sense of time. He was falling, stumbling backward through the veil that was hanging from the arch, falling through the blackness all around, until he was no longer sure of how long it had been, or of how far. Falling until he was no longer sure of which way was up or which way was down. It was then that Sirius realized that he wasn't actually falling any more. Once that happened, his surroundings began to take some sort of shape. At first, it was a faint light, growing stronger and brighter all around him. Not entirely sure, what to do at first, Sirius watched as things began to take shape and transform from being fuzzy outlines and taking on sharper detail. Then for the first time, it struck him.

" _I'm supposed to be dead, aren't I? But I don't _feel_ dead … not that I'd know what it felt like anyway."_

He decided to take a closer look at his surroundings. It seemed to be a forest of some kind, but it was different, somehow.

"_That's it!"_ Sirius thought _" there's nobody here … wait a minute, though. I can't be the only one here. There has to be someone else, but where could they be?" _ he couldn't remember a forest like this anywhere. Wanting go explore, he tried to think of a way to know where he would be going.

" _Of course! I know it's not the same forest, but when we all got lost in the forbidden forest, didn't James say something about moss…? But it grows all over the trees here. Wait, I have a better idea." _ Taking out his wand, he said

" Point Me" the wand spun around to point north.

" _Well, at least the magic still works here, wherever here is."_ So, he set off to find out exactly where he was. Heading as due north as was possible following his wand, he succeeded in not getting himself lost, but as the day wore on, he got the distinct impression that he wasn't alone … like he was being watched. It was the kind of feeling he got every time it turned out that Kreacher was lurking about out of sight, but watching whatever he was doing anyway. But he knew that this wasn't Kreacher. He looked around, making a full three hundred and sixty-degree turn, but saw nothing but trees, trees, and more trees, until a great stag stepped quietly from behind the trees. Seeing the stag reminded Sirius of the first time James, Peter and he had actually, in their various animal forms, left the Shrieking Shack, and began their explorations around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade

" _We didn't wander too much that first night … but we did have a lot of fun finding all the secret pathways in and out of the castle. I remember we only barely made it back in time for classes that morning though that was usually what normally happened. It was worth it, though. Then we wrote the Marauder's Map … which helped us keep an eye on where Snivvely was. I had wondered so long about what had happened to the Marauder's Map, but it's good that Harry has it now. Wonder where he found it, and how he learned about it's secret." _

Sirius was drawn out of his reverie as the stag approached him.

" _I'm supposed to follow"_ Sirius thought. He didn't know how he knew, but he knew. However, there was no way he could keep up with the stag as a human, so, impulsively, he turned himself into a big black dog. The stag waited patiently, staring at Sirius with his large hazel eyes as if this was expected.

" _James had hazel eyes…regular stags have brown eyes…I wonder …?"_ mused Sirius. Both the dog and the stag started into the woods at a run. They passed thousands of trees, all looking alike, and rocks and streams, and many more trees.

" _Well, I'm completely lost,"_ thought Sirius. _" But then, I haven't been here that long… I suppose I'll learn." _

Eventually they left the woods, and they came to a fairly large house. At this point, the stag stopped, and Sirius, taking this as his cue that this was the place they were supposed to be, transformed back into himself. Then the stag transformed … into James.

" Good to see you, Padfoot" James said, flashing his lopsided grin.

" It's good to see you too, Prongs," Sirius choked.

James led the way into the house and into the living room.

"So, Prongs, where exactly am I?"

" This seems to be a world where only people who get killed with Avada Kedavra go," James explained. "But where it is, exactly, I have no idea."

"Oh…" said Sirius, finally understanding.

"So, what happened in the other world to make you come here? Other than Avada Kedavra, I mean?"

"I was dueling with my stupid cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Sheesh, why?"

"The Order of the Phoenix went to the Ministry to help Harry, because apparently Voldemort used Occlumency to give Harry a vision that I was in the Department of Mysteries at Voldemort's mercy."

"Were you?"

"I most certainly was not! Anyway, Harry and some of his friends rode a couple of thestrals to the Ministry to save me, but it turned out to be a trap. When we got there, they were surrounded by Death Eaters…putting up a good fight while I was still there, too. "

"How is Harry? What's he been up to?"

" He's fine … well, other than having whatever visions Voldemort is sending him … intentionally, or unintentionally. Actually, that saved the life of one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix – you wouldn't know Arthur Weasley, would you?"

" No, but go on." James said, wanting an explanation.

" Arthur was guarding the prophecy, making sure that Voldemort couldn't read the full contents, and Voldemort got into the Ministry, in his snake, which he was possessing. When it turned out that someone was in his way, Voldemort attacked him. Anyway, Harry saw the whole thing, and alerted Dumbledore, and they rescued Arthur. He was also in the Triwizard Tournament … He actually won it, even though he was the youngest contestant. Actually, he shouldn't have been in it, but the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher turned out to be a death eater, who submitted his name anyway. That's how Voldemort came back – the Triwizard cup was apparently a Portkey, and I'm not sure exactly what happened after that, only that Voldemort came back. Wormtail helped." He said, with considerable bitterness.

" He wasn't caught?" James asked, a little surprised.

"No, I looked for, and found him, but he managed to chop off one of his fingers, cause a great big explosion, transform himself into a rat, and lived with the Weasleys for twelve years." Sirius explained.

" And what happened to you after that?" James asked, hoping he didn't know the answer already.

" Well, the magical law enforcement came, and as there was no evidence that I was innocent, they told everyone that I was one of Voldemort's strongest supporters, and put me in Azkaban"

"I'm sorry" James's voice trailed off. The thought of his best friend spending 12 years in Azkaban …

" Anyway" Sirius continued " one day when Fudge was inspecting the prison, I asked to borrow his newspaper. I don't know why, perhaps it was just fate, or perhaps sheer boredom. On the front page was a picture of the Weasleys, who had won some gold from the Daily Prophet and were talking a vacation in Egypt. And I couldn't believe who I saw in the picture … Peter Pettigrew! Since the paper said several of the Weasley children were going to be at Hogwarts, I figured Peter would be there, too. Somehow, I managed to escape, and work my way to Hogwarts. To make a long story short, Harry, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Moony and I all ended up in the Shirking Shack with Wormtail."

" What was Moony doing at Hogwarts?" James asked.

" He got a job as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher."

" That's great! So you were all in the Shrieking shack, what then.

" Pettigrew got away. Again." Sirius said. "Anyway, somehow, Harry managed to rescue us all from I don't know how many dementors. You'd be proud of him Prongs." Sirius finished.

At that moment, Lily walked in, and stopped dead in her tracks/

"Sirius…what on Earth are you doing here?"

Sirius sighed. "Hey, Lilikins. I was just telling Jamesie here all about it. Do I really have to repeat myself?"

"If you want anything for dinner, yes. Otherwise, no."

AN: Well, how was it? This is my first fic, so I'm hoping you take a second to review.


	2. An Unexpected Someone

I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while (blame my trig (AKA evil) teacher) I'll try to be better about updating.

Many thanks to my beta, Zippy Wings. You're the greatest!

Thanks so much to all of my reviewers! You all are so awesome!

**BandGeek3891** - thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it. ( and that's awesome about Raoul)

**DLM **- Hope you like the continuation

**liteswitch** - I'm writing, writing, writing!

**Glowing-ice ** - thanks for the tip, divider lines make it look nicer. And about the Avada Kedavera world … blame the Mayans. They're the ones who came up with the basic idea anyhow.

**Zippy Wings **- thanks. I am very grateful.

Disclaimer - Harry Potter is owned by JKR, not me. ( If I owned Harry Potter, would certain characters be dead at this point? No.)

Oh, yeah. Thank you to Charlie. You know who you are.

At dinner that evening there was a lot of catching up to do. Sirius, James and Lily talked for hours., and eventually James and Sirius got around to reminiscing about all the pranks they had pulled.

" … and that time in fifth year, you used that _ Levicorpus_ spell of Snape's on him? That was brilliant!" James and Sirius laughed even harder at the memory. Lily just gave an exasperated sigh.

"Honestly, it really wasn't that funny " she started,

" I wonder whatever happened to Snivelus" James said, half to himself.

" He started teaching potions when Professor Slughorn retired" Sirius said darkly.

" But why would Dumbledore hire him …" Lily said, shocked.

" He's not in Azkaban?" James asked, at the same moment.

" No, apparently, Dumbledore trusts him. I don't know why, he never explained why to anyone. I never did. Okay, given when he was fixing the Wolfsbane potion for Moony, he never purposely botched it up, but then he did tell about Moony's …"

" Furry little problem" James and Lily finished at the same time. Sirius nodded.

"Dumbledore has seriously cracked if he thinks that Snape would actually come back. He hated you and me and Lils so much that, heck, I was surprised that he didn't beg Moldy Voldy to let him come and finish Lils and I off…"

"That sounds more like the Snape we know than the Snape that's been hanging around teaching potions" said Sirius

Just then, the doorbell rang. Lily got up and went to answer the door. A minute later, she came back, smiling. "Sirius," she said, "I've got a surprise for you."

"What the…Lils? I've got all I need…my best friends are here with me…well, except Moony, of course…what more could I want?"

"Just come into the sitting room and see for yourself."

Sirius and James followed Lily, a little apprehensively, into the sitting room. A sudden squeal made Sirius jump and James smile.

"Sirius!"

"C-Camille? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be, you idiot?" the tall slender form of Sirius' former fiancée said, engulfing Sirius in a hug.

"C'mon, James," Lily said. "Come and help me clean up the kitchen." James followed obediently, knowing that his best friend needed to have some time with his fiancée.

" So how have you been Camille?" asked Sirius, suddenly feeling awkward and very much alone with someone he had longed for and missed since her death some 15 years earlier. _"Oh, geez, what a STUPID question … She must think I'm the world's biggest prat, or git something"_ Sirius thought, mentally kicking himself.

"I've been okay, and you?" Camille answered _"I'm so stupid, why do I have to be so bloody stupid?" _ Camille berated herself. It seemed they had everything and nothing to say to each other, after 15 years.

_- FLASHBACK - (Sirius)_

_Sirius looked around the Hogwarts Express trying to find a compartment that wasn't full. Wandering up and down the train, he finally found an empty compartment, settled down and pulled out his copy of Druids. He hadn't gotten more than a few pages into the book when the door to the compartment opened, and another first year student came tentatively into the compartment. _

"_Hi" he said, grinning "Um, do you mind? Everywhere is full but here." _

"_Of course not" Sirius said, not able to keep from grinning himself. "I'm Sirius Black." _

"_James Potter." _

_Soon James and Sirius were deep in conversation, having discovered their mutual love for practical jokes, but they were interrupted a while later by someone coming into their compartment._

_Hi," she said, "Have you seen …" her voice trailed off when she saw James. "Oh, there you are, James, I'd been looking for you … but I think I just interrupted something, so …" she turned to leave the compartment. _

" _It's okay" Sirius and James said at the same time. She grinned, and sat down next to James. _

"_I'm Sirius, and I see you already know James here…"_

"_Well, of course I know him, I'm his twin sister, Camille!" she said, pretending to be shocked and offended. This was too much, and all three of them started laughing, only stopping when the trolley came around. _

_- END SIRIUS' FLASHBACK - _

_- FLASHBACK - (Camille)_

"_Where has my infernal twin got to? If he doesn't turn up soon I swear I'm going to report him to mum…the prat…I guess I'll look in this compartment…it's the only one I haven't checked…" "Hello, have you seen…oh, there you are, James, I'd been looking for you … but I think I just interrupted something, so …" "I wonder who that boy over there next to James is…he really is good looking…the way his black hair falls around his face…"_

"_It's okay," James and the cute boy said at the same time._

"_I'm Sirius, and I see you already know James here…" the cute boy said._

"_Sirius…Sirius…what a nice name…Sirius…" "Well, of course I know him, I'm his twin sister, Camille!" I said, pretending to be shocked and offended. The three of us burst out laughing, and I noticed that Sirius had a very nice, open, hearty, not to mention cute, laugh…_

_- END CAMILLE'S FLASHBACK -_

Sirius and Camille were silent for a few awkward seconds before Lily's seemingly brain-dead cat, Charlie, came bounding into the room playing with his favorite kitty toy. Camille's laughter at Charlie's playing broke the momentary tension. Sirius mentally thanked Charlie for his perfect timing as he joined in.

"I've missed you so much, Camille…_'if you only knew how much'_"

"I've missed you too, Sirius…_'I thought I'd never see you again'_…"

Okay, so how was it? Did you love it? Hate it? I can't improve it if you don't review … so review please. J It makes me happy, and makes me write faster, and it only takes a second.


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